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With the rise of ChatGPT and large language models (LLMs), AI-dedicated devices have started coming out. The Humane AI pin was widely lambasted earlier this month when it launched, and now the Rabbit r1 AI assistant is out. With rumors that Apple is delving into AI in a big way, we thought we'd check out the Rabbit r1 to see what it can do and how it measures up to an iPhone. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Priced at $200, the Rabbit is a square-shaped pocket assistant that can answer questions, look up information, interface with food delivery and ride sharing services, play music, translate languages, and more. It's a cute little device that looks right at home with the Playdate from Panic, but most of what it can do can already be done with an ‌iPhone‌. Unlike the Humane AI Pin, the Rabbit r1 has a screen that you can interact with, which makes it much more functional. It comes with an old school scroll wheel for navigating the UI, and there's a built-in camera for recognizing objects. It is Wi-Fi only by default, but you can add a SIM card, which is an added cost. As a first-generation device, the r1 isn't perfect. The setup process is bare bones without tips on how to use the device or what it's able to do. You'll almost certainly need to visit the website to figure out how to use it if you pick one of these up, so it could do with some on-device instruction to make using it smoother. There are, for example, hidden controls like shaking the device to get to the settings, and the settings are the only way to activate the terminal for typing. The idea with the Rabbit r1 is to be less reliant on a smartphone, so there's no app for it. That's kind of a hassle if you want to get to the photos and other information that you've stored on it, because it's only accessible through the Rabbit Hole website. You can hook up services like Spotify, but it's not super smart about suggesting songs. Asking it to play liked songs, for example, resulted in random song selections. The option to translate works well, but it can be slow, and it's tough to get to. In some tests, ordering food was successful, but not without hiccups. We didn't test placing an order ourselves, but YouTuber Quinn Nelson did and the AI placed the order but didn't ask for guidance on a tip and ended up being overly generous and tipping the highest suggested amount. The Rabbit r1 can summarize documents, a task that it's decent at, but that's not really something that a smartphone can't do. It is good at recognizing what's around through the camera, but some things, like a classic Mac, did trip it up. We need to spend more time testing the Rabbit r1, but so far, it seems like a neat device but also an unnecessary one that isn't quite ready to replace a smartphone. Have an opinion on the r1? Let us know in the comments below.Tag: Artificial Intelligence This article, "Hands-On With the Rabbit r1 Pocket AI Assistant" first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums View the full article

The Rabbit R1 wowed the tech world at CES 2024 earlier this year, and it's now been confirmed that the first 10,000 of these little AI-powered gadgets are going to be heading to the first people who preordered them in the US and Canada from Sunday, March 31. As per a Rabbit post on social media (via Engadget), the first batch of devices will start leaving the factory on that date, though they may take three weeks or so to get into the hands of customers, due to various international and US customs processes. If you were one of the first 10,000 people in the US to get your name down for a Rabbit R1, you can expect it around April 24th, Rabbit says. Of course there's always the chance of further delays, but that's the current estimate. According to the FAQ on the Rabbit website, the second batch of orders will be shipping in April and May, with the third batch heading to customers during May and June, for US and Canada addresses. If you're in the UK or EU, shipping is expected to start by late April. The next smartphone? We’d like to share that we’re on track for the first U.S. batch to start leaving the factory on Easter, March 31st, as promised. We estimate shipping to take a little over three weeks as orders will have to pass through both international and U.S. customs, with the first orders… pic.twitter.com/sh3H5yCcpmMarch 23, 2024 See more If you're completely new to the Rabbit R1, it functions a little like a smartphone, only there's an AI assistant doing all the jobs that apps normally do – queueing up music, taking photos, booking hotels, and so on and so on. In fact, the Rabbit software is clever enough to interact with your mobile apps, once you've shown it what to do. It's an interesting new take on the pocket computer, and it's attracted a lot of early buzz in the industry. We know the Rabbit R1 is going to be powered, at least in part, by the Perplexity AI engine: this means you'll be able to chat with the device in the same way as you would with ChatGPT or with Copilot from Microsoft. You can still order the Rabbit R1 from Rabbit for $199 (about £160 / AU$305), though it might be a while before you get it. Rabbit CEO Jesse Lyu recently shared a demo of the device in action, if you want to get a feel of how it works. You might also like Why you may end up loving the Rabbit R1The best gadgets we saw at CES 2024Perplexity AI has now landed on the iPhone View the full article

We were first introduced to the Rabbit R1 in January 2024, at CES 2024, but what exactly is it? The charming sidekick (designed by Teenage Engineering) is promising to take pocket gadgets to the next level – offering something like a smartphone, but with an intuitive, unified, AI-driven interface that means you (theoretically, at least) need to interact with individual apps and websites. If you're curious about the Rabbit R1 and the ways in which it might change the course of personal computing – or at least show us how next-gen smartphone voice assistants might work – we've gathered together everything you need to know about it here. From what it costs and how it works, to the AI engine driving the R1 experience, all the details of this potentially revolutionary device are here. The first batches of the Rabbit R1 are due to start shipping to users later in 2024, although it seems availability is going to be rather limited to begin with – so you might have to wait a while to get your very own Rabbit R1. Rabbit R1: one-minute overview The r1 (Image credit: Rabbit) The Rabbit R1 is a lot like a phone in terms of its looks, and in some of its features: it has a camera and a SIM card slot, and it supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. What's different, and what makes the Rabbit R1 special, is the interface: instead of a grid of apps, you get an AI assistant that talks to your favorite apps and does everything for you. For example, you could get the R1 to research a holiday destination and book flights to it, or queue up a playlist of your favorite music, or book you a cab. In theory, you can do anything you can already do on your phone, just by asking. That said, there remain a lot of questions over exactly how it works and protects your privacy in the way it describes. We've seen next-gen personal assistants depicted in movies like Her, and the R1 is trying to make that a reality – leveraging the latest AI capabilities to replace the traditional smartphone interface with something a lot more intuitive and slick. Introducing r1. Watch the keynote. Order now: https://t.co/R3sOtVWoJ5 #CES2024 pic.twitter.com/niUmjFvKvEJanuary 9, 2024 See more Another way to think about the Rabbit R1 is as an evolution of the Amazon Echo, Google Nest, and Apple HomePod smart speakers. The voice-controlled digital assistants on these devices can do some rudimentary tasks – like check the weather or play music – but the R1 wants to go way beyond what they're capable of. Rabbit says the R1 is "the future of human-machine interfaces", and you can check out its pitch for the device in its very Apple-flavored CES 2024 keynote below. Rabbit r1: release date and price The first batch of 10,000 units of the Rabbit R1 were made available to preorder at the same time as the device was announced at CES, on January 9, 2024. Those units quickly sold out, as did a second batch of 10,000 units made available shortly after. Rabbit says that the people who got their preorders in should start having their devices shipped to them in March and April 2024. At the time of writing, there's no indication yet when another batch of units will be made available to preorder, or when we might see the r1 go on sale more widely. What we do know is that the price of the Rabbit R1 starts at $199, which works out at around £155 / AU$300. To begin with, the Rabbit R1 is available to order in the US, Canada, the UK, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, South Korea, and Japan, from the Rabbit website. What's more, unlike rival AI devices such as the Humane AI Pin, there's no ongoing subscription fee that you have to pay out. Rabbit r1: hardware The r1 comes in a distinctive color (Image credit: Rabbit) The Rabbit r1 is square, and bright orange, and comes with a 2.88-inch color touchscreen on the front. It's quite a compact device, almost small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, and it weighs in at 115 grams (about 4 oz). There's only one design, for now – you can't pick this up in multiple colors. We know there's a far-field mic embedded in the R1, as well as built-in speakers. There's an integrated 360-degree camera here too, which is apparently called the Rabbit Eye. You can interact with elements by touching the screen, and there's an analog scroll wheel at the side of the device as well, if you need it. The r1 camera (Image credit: Rabbit) On the right of the Rabbit R1 is a push-to-talk button, which you make use of whenever you want to talk to the AI assistant on the device. There's no need for any "hey Google" or "hey Siri" wake command, and it also means the assistant doesn't have to be constantly listening out for your voice. Double-tapping the button activates the on-board camera. Under the hood we've got a 2.3GHz MediaTek Helio processor, and Rabbit says the device offers "all day" battery life. That battery can be charged with a USB-C charge cable and power adapter, but it's worth bearing in mind that these aren't included in the box, so you'll have to use ones you've already got. Rabbit R1: software With its bright orange casing, the Rabbit r1 looks kind of cute, but it's the software that really makes it stand out. If you've used something like ChatGPT or Google Bard already, then this is something similar: Rabbit OS is fronted by an AI chatbot, capable of both answering questions and performing tasks. In the CES keynote demo, Rabbit founder and CEO Jesse Lyu showed the R1 answering philosophical questions, checking stock prices, looking up information about movies, playing music on Spotify, booking an Uber, ordering a pizza, and planning a vacation (complete with flights and hotel reservations). The r1 runs Rabbit OS (Image credit: Rabbit) To get some of this working, you need to connect the Rabbit OS with your various apps and services, which can be done through a web portal. From the demo we've seen, it looks as though Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Expedia, Uber, eBay, and Amazon will be some of the services you can connect to. Rabbit is keen to emphasize that it doesn't store any of your login details or track you in any way – it simply connects you to the apps you need – though the specifics of how it does this via the cloud are still unclear. Rabbit's privacy page gives us a few more details, stating that "when you interact with rabbit OS, you will be assigned a dedicated and isolated environment on our cloud for your own LAM [large action model]. When our rabbits perform tasks for you, they will use your own accounts that you have securely granted us control over through our rabbit hole web portal". It also adds that "we do not store your passwords for these services. Rabbits will ask for permission and clarification during the execution of any tasks, especially those involving sensitive actions such as payments." Exactly how Rabbit provides each user with a "dedicated and isolated environment" in its cloud isn't yet clear, but we should find out more once it lands with its first early adopters. We've also been told the R1 can handle communication, real-time translation, and analyze images taken with the camera – show the R1 what's in your fridge, for example, and it could up with a dish you can cook. The Rabbit R1 promises speedy responses too, quicker than you'd get with other generative AI bots. You can converse with the R1 as you would with Siri or Google Assistant, or you can bring up an on-screen keyboard by shaking the device. It calls its on-board AI a Large Action Model or LAM, similar to a Large Language Model or LLM (familiar from bots like ChatGPT), but with a lot more agency. The r1 wants to take over multiple phone tasks (Image credit: Rabbit) On top of all this, Rabbit says you can teach the R1 new skills. So, if you showed it how to go online and order your groceries for you, the next time it would be able to do that all by itself. In the CES demo, we saw the Rabbit R1 learning how to create AI images through Midjourney, and then replicating the process on its own. Interestingly, Rabbit says it doesn't want the R1 to replace your phone – it wants to work alongside it. The R1 can't, for example, browse YouTube, check social media or let you organize your email (at least not yet), so it would seem that the humble smartphone will be sticking around for a while yet. While some of the specifics about how the Rabbit R1 works and interacts with your favorite apps and services remain unclear, it's undoubtedly one of the most exciting pieces of AI hardware so far – as shown by the rapid sell-out of its early stock. We'll bring you more first impressions as soon as we've got our hands on one of 2024's early tech stars. You might also like Everything that was announced at CES 2024How to get started with ChatGPTThis smart mattress topper uses AI to boost sleep View the full article